Green Crypto Mining: Powering with Animal Waste
Irish farmers are utilizing anaerobic digestion, a process that converts animal waste into biogas, to generate electricity and power cryptocurrency mining.
Anaerobic digestion is a natural process that decomposes manure, releasing methane that can be used as fuel for an electric generator connected to a cryptocurrency mining farm.
This method gained attention back in 2021 when Welsh farmer Philip Hughes used it to mine ETH in a shipping container near his smallholding. He chose the second most popular cryptocurrency as it had less burden on the network and didn't require specialized ASIC hardware.
Recently, Irish farmer Tom Campbell also employed this method, but for Bitcoin mining. He combined multiple sources of renewable energy to power the mining rig and cover its consumption rate.
When we looked at the bitcoin as opposed to which other coin to mine, we felt bitcoin was the purest crypto out there. It's not contaminated by outside influences. It's on a network that needs a lot of consensus. So we thought that's the one we would opt forsaid Tom Campbell, an Irish farmer and Bitcoin maximalist.
In Ireland, a significant portion of emissions comes from domestic livestock, which has led to increased interest in the concept of green mining. Proponents of this idea, who have been engaged in it for some time, advise against being overly concerned about asset volatility. They suggest that in the event of a crypto winter, mining operations can be redirected to other sources of energy generation.
Not everyone is fond of this idea
Bitcoin critics often express their dissatisfaction with the cryptocurrency's energy consumption and its contribution to global warming, citing environmental concerns. The mining of the first cryptocurrency is known to require a significant amount of electricity, with some comparing the energy costs to those of entire countries.
Some individuals take it a step further and systematically criticize the use of green technologies for mining, including Digiconomist founder Alex de Vries. In 2021, he claimed that green energy should not be wasted on Bitcoin due to its limited utility. In 2022, the economist stated that Bitcoin will become "even dirtier" after the bans in China, even though renewable sources in the network already exceed 50%.
It's unlikely that people like Alex can be persuaded otherwise. However, for those interested in both ecology and technological progress, it's important to demonstrate that there are ingenious solutions that not only allow for mining but also reduce carbon emissions into the atmosphere. This indicates that the issue isn't with the technology itself, but rather the approach taken towards it.
